Chapter 34: I Have to Meet Her
The wind howled on the terrace, the cold air hitting her face.
Zhou Wanfeng sat on the edge of the platform. The view from here was truly beautiful. The classic novel next to her was being flipped through by the wind.
She wondered if she had been too cruel to Yun Jingya.
Perhaps she could have found a gentler way. After all, she was only twelve.
But the moment the thought arose, she couldn’t help but scoff at herself.
Tap, tap, tap. Hesitant footsteps came from the entrance of the stairs. Zhou Wanfeng turned and saw Yun Jingya standing there, her face stained with tears. The little girl’s eyes were red from crying. When she saw her turn to look, she pressed her lips together tightly, but the tears continued to fall.
Zhou Wanfeng looked away and took a deep breath. It was as she had expected.
Tap, tap, tap, tap. She sat down next to her, and the sound of sobbing came one after another. “…Grandma said, she… won’t force you to transfer to a sports school anymore.”
…
“…Thank you,” Zhou Wanfeng said, looking into the distance, her mouth slowly opening.
The wind howled, and amidst the rustling of the book pages, a choked “I’m sorry” could be heard.
With that, Yun Jingya’s shoulders shook, and she couldn’t help but cry. Her mind was in a mess. Everything she had known before had become blurry. “…Grandma, she… how could she do that…”
Zhou Wanfeng stood up, took a handkerchief from the clothesline on the terrace, and draped it over Yun Jingya’s back.
Yun Jingya clutched the handkerchief and cried softly and restrainedly.
“…From the moment I met you, the things you have have always caught my attention. What I don’t have, you have it all. The things I have to try my best to get are within your reach. I’m very envious of you,” Zhou Wanfeng said calmly, looking at the distant scenery.
Yun Jingya slowly looked up and saw Zhou Wanfeng’s sharp and delicate profile.
She heard Zhou Wanfeng continue, “I’m afraid of standing still. It’s clearly very solid, but I feel like it will collapse under my feet in the next second. I have to keep moving forward. I’m especially envious of you. The path under your feet is very solid. There are people who love you watching you, paying attention to you. Even if you fall, they will be the first to catch you. You won’t fall into that bottomless black abyss. You can’t experience that kind of desperate environment, where you scream and cry, but no one cares about you. The result is that you have to climb out the same way you fell in. Covered in filth, and when others see you, they avoid you in disgust.”
Zhou Wanfeng turned to look at Yun Jingya, a faint smile on her lips, but her eyes were calm. “If someone were willing to do these things for me, even if I knew it would hurt others, I would find it hard to hate her, to dislike her. You don’t have to be sad for me. Your grandmother loves you very much. And because she loves you, I can use that to my advantage.”
“But… she hurt you. You must be sad,” Yun Jingya said, covering her mouth, her eyes filled with tears.
Hearing this, Zhou Wanfeng chuckled. “I’m not sad, because she’s nothing to me. She targets me, and I use you to restrain her. The one who should be sad… is probably you.”
“Then… am I… a friend to you?” Yun Jingya asked cautiously, her nose red from crying, tears still clinging to her eyelashes, her eyes looking at Zhou Wanfeng with anticipation.
Zhou Wanfeng looked up at the distance, her gaze cold and distant. “No one would use a friend to achieve their goals. You have many things that I envy. No one can guarantee that this envy won’t turn into jealousy, hatred, and loathing over time… Especially when someone is maliciously stirring up trouble. Will you not get angry?”
Zhou Wanfeng stood up and let out a sharp breath into the air, then looked down at Yun Jingya, her expression calm. “I don’t want to be that kind of person. My original intention in coming to Yunhai City was to become an outstanding person. For that, I will fight back fiercely against anything that stands in my way. If something like this happens again in the future, you will still be my weapon to punish your grandmother. We are not suitable to be friends.”
With that, Zhou Wanfeng picked up the classic novel from the floor. “It’s windy up here. Let’s go back,” she said, turning to go downstairs.
That night, in the third-floor study, only Zhou Wanfeng was studying until midnight.
Zhou Wanfeng knew that the matter was not completely over.
When Yang Yijun called her to the Go room, it was the beginning of the game between the two of them. She had nothing to fear. She sat opposite the Go table, even though Yang Yijun’s face was as dark as a winter’s day.
“I really underestimated you,” Yang Yijun said, fiddling with the Go pieces.
Zhou Wanfeng sat cross-legged and grabbed a handful of Go pieces. She knew how to play Gomoku. She casually placed a piece where Yang Yijun had been playing. “You underestimated Yun Jingya. The more you do, the more she will feel that she is not working hard enough.”
Yang Yijun cut off the white pieces’ path and looked up at Zhou Wanfeng.
Zhou Wanfeng slammed down a piece in another place and started again.
Three times in a row.
The white pieces were arranged in a line of three, and the black pieces were blocked. The black pieces in the middle formed a line of five. Zhou Wanfeng was unmoved. When she was blocked, she would just start in another place.
Yang Yijun watched as Zhou Wanfeng placed her fourth piece and looked up at her. “What are you trying to tell me?”
Zhou Wanfeng opened her hand. There were still three white pieces in her palm. She placed them all on the board.
“Everything I have is here. You can see it clearly. You’ve blocked me time and time again, wasting your pieces and also losing many opportunities for yourself. We should have been two parallel lines that never intersect. You do your thing, I do mine. You’ve hindered me time and time again, and all I’ve done is to clear away your obstacles. You’re always the one who makes the first move. I’m the one who retaliates. Have I ever taken the initiative?”
Zhou Wanfeng swept the board clean with a wave of her hand, grabbed a black piece, and placed it down. She stared at Yang Yijun. “We’ve known each other for so long. Do you think I’m afraid of you? I’ve never started trouble, nor have I dug a trap for you to fall into. Everything you want, everything you care about, everything you value, in my eyes, is also your weakness. Have I done anything? From the first day I walked in, you’ve been targeting me. You know how to play Go. I only know the simple Gomoku. Our rules are not the same. I just want to keep moving forward.
“Yun Jingya can make you lose your step. What about Yun Chengbin? What about Yun Lan? What about all three of them together? The things you imagined haven’t happened. I haven’t done anything. And you’re targeting me like this now. Is it necessary? Isn’t it too early?”
“Give it a rest. What you want is not what I want. The path I want to take is also different from yours. I can also tell you that if I were to make the first move against you, I would kill you with one move, so that you would have no chance to get up and fight back. The things that hurt you are just a few. So, let’s live in peace for now, even for the sake of the kind Yun Jingya. You can observe me first. If I really do the things you imagine, it won’t be too late for you to target me then. I still have a few years before I come of age.”
With that, Zhou Wanfeng grabbed a handful of white pieces and placed them on the Go table. The black and white pieces were instantly intertwined. She said with a cold expression, “If you continue to target me, the first one who won’t be able to take it will be Yun Jingya. She’s only twelve, and she has to bear so much. Her spirit will break, and she might even have psychological problems. Think about it yourself. If there’s a next time, it will be my turn to make the first move with the black pieces.”
She casually picked up a black piece and held it in her palm, then stood up and pushed the door open to leave.
This was her last warning and reminder. She didn’t want to hurt innocent people to achieve her goals. She just didn’t want to. If she had to, she would not be soft-hearted.
As for Zhou Zhiru, he had been an observer from beginning to end. In her opinion, he would not put his mind on her at least until she was in high school.
On Monday, in the third class of the first grade at the experimental middle school, there was a ten-minute break. Yun Jingya was sitting in her seat, in a daze. When she had gotten up for school this morning, there was a sticky note on her door.
“You can use the study. I’ll be studying in the attic from now on.”
She was holding the sticky note, in a daze. She had been the one to give Zhou Wanfeng this kind of sticky note.
“Hey, Yun Jingya, Jiang Xiaochen said that Zhou Wanfeng from Shuangshu Model Middle School is your family?” Lu Qing sat down in front of Yun Jingya with a thud. He had kicked the boy in the front row out.
Yun Jingya was in a daze. She suddenly found a face very close to her and was so scared that she leaned back.
Lu Qing was lying on the desk, his chin propped up on one hand. He frowned. “Hey, did you hear what I said?” Seeing that she was not in her right mind, he turned and shouted at Jiang Chen, “Jiang Xiaochen, were you lying? She’s not even reacting.”
The next second, Jiang Chen leaned over. “Yun Jingya, is Zhou Wanfeng your family?”
Yun Jingya blinked, still in a daze.
Lu Qing jumped up and grabbed Jiang Chen by the neck. “See, she doesn’t even know. And you said you weren’t lying to me.”
“Family?” Yun Jingya murmured, looking at the sticky note and suddenly smiling. She realized that she had been overthinking it these past two days.
She and Zhou Wanfeng lived in the same house. They were family. What did it matter if they were friends or not? The little fatty was their common brother.
After figuring this out, Yun Jingya saw the two people who were fighting in front of her. She asked with a puzzled expression, “What’s wrong with Zhou Wanfeng?”
Jiang Chen was being choked and was crying out, “Zhou Wanfeng lives there. Jiang Yi couldn’t have been wrong. I’ve even seen her once.”
Lu Qing turned to look at Yun Jingya. “Does Zhou Wanfeng live at your house?”
Yun Jingya nodded, then added, “She’s my younger sister.” They were the same age, but she was older, so she was the older sister.
Jiang Chen was pushed away. The next second, Lu Qing moved his chair and sat down. “Let’s ask her out to play on Saturday and Sunday. I have to meet her.”
“Meet her for what? Can you beat her?” Jiang Chen pulled Lu Qing by the back of his collar, telling him to return the chair to the other person.
“Who said anything about fighting? Can’t I just meet her? I’m being laughed at by all the classes because of her. I have to ask her clearly. Was it her who kicked that kick? If it was, I have to persuade her to play women’s soccer. With that strength and accuracy, it would be a pity not to play soccer,” he said. It was being said that he had dropped the relay baton and it had flown more than ten meters. In reality, it had only fallen a meter or two. It was Zhou Wanfeng who had kicked it.
Yun Jingya was confused and didn’t understand.
“By the way, did she mention anything about the sports meet after she went back?” Lu Qing asked curiously.
“She didn’t mention it. But a coach from the municipal sports bureau came to our house. He took a liking to Wanfeng and wanted to recruit her into the track and field team, but she has already refused.”
“I heard from Jiang Yi that Zhou Wanfeng got fourth in the entire grade in his school’s monthly exam. With such good grades, she wouldn’t go and practice sports,” Jiang Chen said, suddenly slapping his hand, as if he had thought of something. “Damn, is Zhou Wanfeng the kind of person who is good at both academics and martial arts? She’s amazing. Jiang Yi said that Zhou Wanfeng is the boss in his class. No one dares to mess with her. If you dare, she’ll knock your teeth out.”
Yun Jingya waved her hand and explained for Zhou Wanfeng, “Wanfeng is not that kind of person. She’s always been very quiet. But… but you’d better not provoke her.” Thinking of what her grandmother had done, Zhou Wanfeng didn’t seem to have backed down.
“Did you hear that? You’d better not provoke her. It’s been so long since the sports meet. And you’re still trying to cause trouble? Aren’t you afraid she’ll break your arms and legs?” Jiang Chen said, shaking his arms. Anyway, he insisted that Zhou Wanfeng was not to be provoked. That kind of gaze, that kind of presence, she was not an ordinary person just by standing there.
Lu Qing scratched his chin and looked at Yun Jingya. “I was just talking. Why would she hit me?”
“You’re like a naked person provoking a hornet. Can you provoke her and still hold on?” Jiang Chen knew Lu Qing’s personality too well. He had a foul mouth. Even when they were just chatting, he would eventually make you want to hit him.
“You’re the one who’s naked! You’re a pervert!” he said, standing up and turning to the class. “Hey, hey, all the girls in the class, quickly leave to avoid suspicion! Jiang Xiaochen is about to get naked!”
Jiang Chen was so angry that he reached out to cover Lu Qing’s mouth. “Lu dog, shut your dog mouth! I shouldn’t have stopped you! You deserve a beating! Isn’t it Saturday and Sunday? Let’s make an appointment! I’ll just watch you get beaten up then!”
Yun Jingya wanted to interrupt them and say that Wanfeng was always at home studying and reading on Saturdays and Sundays, and never went anywhere.
At Shuangshu Model Middle School, Zhou Wanfeng had offended the grade director. She could have been transferred to First Grade, Class Two, but now she couldn’t go anywhere and was still in First Grade, Class Nine.
Zhou Wanfeng studied and went to class as usual.
However, after getting fourth in the entire grade, things were a little different. In the eyes of the teachers, the matter of her fighting and causing trouble before had faded.
She gradually became a serious student and a responsible class president.
After evening self-study, Jiang Yi and Zhou Wanfeng went home together. Jiang Yi was excitedly talking about a math problem all the way. He had spent a whole day figuring it out, and now he was particularly excited.
“Jiang Yi, if you only study math and ignore the other subjects, you probably won’t be able to get into high school in the high school entrance exam. You’ll only be able to go to a vocational school or a technical school,” Zhou Wanfeng reminded him.
“So be it,” Jiang Yi said, not caring about these things at all, still immersed in the joy of solving the problem.
“But vocational and technical schools don’t teach math. Of course, you can study on your own, but what’s the point of that? Look at you now. You’re so happy after solving a problem. What if you were to solve a problem with a group of math geniuses within a time limit? Would you still be this happy? Especially when the math problems are not common.”
Jiang Yi was not stupid at all. He suddenly became sullen and said in a muffled voice, “Are you trying to get me to participate in a math competition?”
“Song Zhang said there’s a math competition in the city. He signed you up, but you were not willing,” Song Zhang had found her behind the scenes and asked her to think of a way.
“I don’t want to participate,” Jiang Yi said, slowing down his bike.
“Fine,” Zhou Wanfeng said, suddenly pushing down hard on the pedals and speeding forward.
Seeing Zhou Wanfeng suddenly speed up, Jiang Yi was taken aback and immediately sped up. “Zhou Wanfeng, are you angry?”
“No.”
“Then why are you riding so fast? And you’re not waiting for me,” Jiang Yi said, trying to keep up.
Zhou Wanfeng turned to look at him and asked with a cold gaze, “Why should I wait for you? Sooner or later, you’ll be left behind by me. I’m fourth in the entire grade, and my goal is No. 1 High School. Your brother, Jiang Chen, is in a key class at the experimental middle school. He’s already left you behind. And you’re still here, only studying math all day. Jiang Yi, in a few years, you’ll be a burden to your brother, Jiang Chen. I won’t be waiting for you anymore,” she said, shifting gears and pushing down hard on the pedal. The bike shot forward with a whoosh.
In the blink of an eye, the distance between them had widened.
Jiang Yi watched as Zhou Wanfeng rode faster and faster, the distance between them growing wider and wider. He was a little panicked.